Rating: 
Summary: A must-read for software developers and project managers
Review: "Unjustified precision--in requirements or plans--has proven to be a substantial, yet subtle, recurring obstacle to success." --quote from author Walker Royce.The false dream that "writing the specifications to the utmost detail will ensure that the engineers create the perfect product, on time" is so prevalent, yet so wrong. Along the way to the finished product, the path is littered with discarded spec that can't be met for technical reasons, timing issues or a chain of dependencies for marketing reasons (if you remove Feature X, then Feature Y is useless.) The author goes on to write that software management is not an exact science; there are gray areas, dependencies and a constant situation of flux that has to be managed. Royce gives case studies for software evolution and recommends changes in the management process, including a VERY valuable core set of metrics. The author is no ivory-tower professor; he developed the methods in this book and tested them in a large project for TRW. This book should be required reading for every software project manager.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for software developers and project managers
Review: "Unjustified precision--in requirements or plans--has proven to be a substantial, yet subtle, recurring obstacle to success." --quote from author Walker Royce. The false dream that "writing the specifications to the utmost detail will ensure that the engineers create the perfect product, on time" is so prevalent, yet so wrong. Along the way to the finished product, the path is littered with discarded spec that can't be met for technical reasons, timing issues or a chain of dependencies for marketing reasons (if you remove Feature X, then Feature Y is useless.) The author goes on to write that software management is not an exact science; there are gray areas, dependencies and a constant situation of flux that has to be managed. Royce gives case studies for software evolution and recommends changes in the management process, including a VERY valuable core set of metrics. The author is no ivory-tower professor; he developed the methods in this book and tested them in a large project for TRW. This book should be required reading for every software project manager.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: A good book on software project management using the Rational Unified Process.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Software Project Management Resource
Review: Clearly written, good information and well structured. One can read its chapters in sequence or in isolation and gain some insight into software project management. The reviewer from Boston who rated it only two stars was way off base.
Rating:
Summary: Hurt feelings don't merit a bad review.
Review: From an above review: "The message rings out clearly: software development as a realm of individualized creativity and exploration is now a thing of the past. Software companies must impose conformity and Taylor-like authoritarian control. Software developers should be made to realize that they are nothing more than cogs in a wheel, and that management is justified in intervening in every aspect of their working life." As a programmer and project manager, yes, this is the case. And it should be the case. The roles don't necessarily mean two different and distinct people always, but programming is a commodity function in large software projects. At least those that wish to be successful. For example, would you rather fly on a plane whose systems were programmed and managed by a group of software engineers each of whom was free to exercise his or her own "individualized creativity and exploration" or a group that used Royce's work in managing the project? I'll be on the latter plane thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Good Work
Review: I found this book very useful. I would recommend it to all.
Rating:
Summary: Very readable Project management book
Review: I picked this up thinking it will just another dry walk-through over the usually difficult software project terrain. Managing a software project is a complex, often under rated job: especially today when software engineering is going through a renaissance. Royce's book is a surprisingly good read. He examines the problems of why software PM is hard and what the industry went through to get where it is today. He highlights reasons why the Unified Process (okay, he *is* a principal of Rational) is necessary in striking a balance between what the clients need and what the software team can perform. I found the comparision of different software metrics useful and enlightening. There is even a good introduction to CMM. I gave it a 4.5 star rating as at times Royce spends too much time on some personal favorite topic of his. But at no point is this book un-interesting. All in all, Royce makes a good read out of a tough subject. This is not, however a book for the inexperienced software manager. You truely need to have gone through projects of various sizes and some tough project management before you begin to understand the book. Royce's book serves to fortify and aid what the software manager has experienced, enlightens managers on why software is the way it is, lists out pitfalls to expect, standards to follow. A rather good manual for the tough job of a software project manager.
Rating:
Summary: Changed my perspective, answered questions to past problems
Review: I've been in software developpement for a good decade. This book gave me a fresh perspective on how to initiate my next project.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding collection of advanced technqiues
Review: If you aren't versed in advanced project management techniques this book will be overwhelming. More important you may pick up misleading information. However, if you are a battle-scared veteran of software development projects and have a full understanding of earned value project management, estimating techniques and development life cycles you'll learn much from this book. The highlights are:
* A project life cycle and process framework that is [obviously] closely aligned to the Rational Unified Process (RUP), and can be fitted to any rapid development or iterative approach. * An excellent tutorial on effective project controls, with an emphasis on earned value project management. * In-depth coverage of estimating techniques, with a lot of material on the constructive cost model (CoCoMo), and current gaps in estimating techniques and to where the craft and science of estimating and software economics needs to evolve in the discussion of next-generation cost models. I especially like his distinction between the use of source lines of code metrics for size and function points for scale. There is middle ground.The treasure trove of metrics, including core project metrics, and the change metrics that are given in Appendix C.
There is one glaring flaw in this book and an experienced project manager will quickly spot it: the proposed approach to basing work breakdown structures on project phases instead of the decomposition of the system to be delivered will not work. Using Royce's approach there is no clear way of integrating the work breakdown structure with the organizational breakdown structure. Using earned value techniques (which is well covered elsewhere in the book) Royce's approach will not align control accounts (sometimes called cost accounts), making his recommendations contrived and unworkable. This book is better suited for an architecture-centric approach to project management, which means that it's more applicable to product development instead of internal IT projects. However, all seasoned PMs will learn much from it.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding collection of advanced technqiues
Review: If you aren't versed in advanced project management techniques this book will be overwhelming. More important you may pick up misleading information. However, if you are a battle-scared veteran of software development projects and have a full understanding of earned value project management, estimating techniques and development life cycles you'll learn much from this book. The highlights are:
* A project life cycle and process framework that is [obviously] closely aligned to the Rational Unified Process (RUP), and can be fitted to any rapid development or iterative approach. * An excellent tutorial on effective project controls, with an emphasis on earned value project management. * In-depth coverage of estimating techniques, with a lot of material on the constructive cost model (CoCoMo), and current gaps in estimating techniques and to where the craft and science of estimating and software economics needs to evolve in the discussion of next-generation cost models. I especially like his distinction between the use of source lines of code metrics for size and function points for scale. There is middle ground.The treasure trove of metrics, including core project metrics, and the change metrics that are given in Appendix C.
There is one glaring flaw in this book and an experienced project manager will quickly spot it: the proposed approach to basing work breakdown structures on project phases instead of the decomposition of the system to be delivered will not work. Using Royce's approach there is no clear way of integrating the work breakdown structure with the organizational breakdown structure. Using earned value techniques (which is well covered elsewhere in the book) Royce's approach will not align control accounts (sometimes called cost accounts), making his recommendations contrived and unworkable. This book is better suited for an architecture-centric approach to project management, which means that it's more applicable to product development instead of internal IT projects. However, all seasoned PMs will learn much from it.
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